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Rates on Treasury bills fall in weekly auction

WASHINGTON – Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction. Rates on six-month bills declined to their lowest level since mid-July. Last week the six-month bills had risen to their highest level in nearly nine years.

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The Treasury Department auctioned $39 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.015 percent, down from 1.040 percent last week. Another $33 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 1.115 percent, down from 1.140 percent last week.

The six-month rate was the lowest since those bills averaged 1.105 percent on July 17. No comparison was provided for three-month bills.

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,974.3 while a six-month bill sold for $9,943.6. That would equal an annualized rate of 1.032 percent for the three-month bills and 1.137 percent for the six-month bills.

Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, stood at 1.21 percent last Friday, down from 1.22 percent at the start of the week on Monday.